Networked: A gripping sci-fi thriller

by LK Chapman

  ‘It’s like, she always seems to be either off her face or angry as hell,’ Dan said shakily, ‘you just can’t have a conversation with her. Tonight... I just got it in my head things would be okay somehow, that I’d go there and the three of us could just be normal, but almost straight away Joel turned up, her boyfriend, and she wouldn’t let him in the house because they’d fallen out and I think he’d been drinking or something because he wouldn’t go, so they ended up having this massive slanging match in the doorway. Then mum started arguing with her and Robyn said she couldn’t stand it in the house and stormed off somewhere and then suddenly the whole thing was my fault, according to mum, because I’d just upped and left, even though when I was living there all I ever got was grief about when I was going to move out. It’s like, I swear to God I can’t do fucking right for doing wrong.’

  Lily let go of him and he took his glasses off and cleaned them vigorously on his t-shirt. ‘Robyn steals money from me,’ he said abruptly, ‘she’s been doing it for months. Since before we released Affrayed, back when she knew I was broke. It used to just be ten quid here, twenty quid there. Now she doesn’t even try to hide it, she just takes everything she can find.’

  ‘Jesus, Dan,’ I said, ‘why don’t you stop her? She’s a seventeen year old girl, can’t you just confront her about it?’

  ‘That’s what you’d do is it?’ Dan said to me, ‘just go straight up and accuse her and have her hate you for the rest of your life?’

  ‘But if she’s doing it-’

  ‘She’s not going to admit it! If she has so little respect for me that she’s stealing from me she’s not going to own up. I can’t prove it. I just want some fucking peace.’

  ‘Is she using it to buy alcohol?’ Lily asked him.

  ‘I don’t know. Presumably.’

  Lily looked over at me and I could see she was as shocked as I was about how bad things had got for Dan and his family. He’d certainly never told me it was quite this much of a mess and I was amazed he’d managed to keep it together as well as he had.

  ‘It’s since she’s been with Joel,’ Dan said, ‘after she met him she’s got so much worse. It’s always on-off, on-off with them. She drinks when they split up, she goes out partying with him when they’re back on. And he’s a weird guy. He scares the shit out of me half the time, he says all this stuff and I can’t tell if he’s being serious or if he’s joking or what the hell is with him. And sometimes he’s got no money and other times he seems to have loads but I’m sure he never does a day’s work.’

  ‘Well you told me before you think he’s nicking stuff,’ I said, ‘like that laptop he tried to sell you.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Dan said, ‘the way he goes on sometimes...’ he shook his head. ‘Thing is, he likes to make out like he’s all that, but whether he’s really done some of the stuff he says he’s done is anyone’s guess.’

  ‘How old is he?’ Lily asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Dan said. ‘Nineteen. Twenty. He’s a few years older than Robyn, anyway. The whole situation is just... sometimes I am so angry with her, then the next I’m scared out of my mind she’s going to end up dead in a ditch or something. And I don’t know what Joel thinks he’s doing messing around with a girl like her. She’s too young. I mean, I know a few years isn’t that big an age gap, but it looks all wrong to me. She used to want to go to uni, she should be going to college and seeing people her own age, not hanging round with him and all his dodgy friends.’

  ‘Have you told her that you think that?’

  ‘Yes. Hundreds of times.’

  ‘Well, maybe you should talk to Joel yourself,’ I suggested, ‘if he does care about Robyn, perhaps he’ll listen.’

  ‘I can’t talk to him. He doesn’t take me seriously; he’d just laugh in my face. That’s the thing, I feel like I should be able to do something, but I just can’t. Whenever I try it always makes things worse and mum ends up going off on one because she thinks I’m upsetting Robyn. What am I supposed to do? When I try to help they really don’t appreciate it.’

  ‘I think that’s probably because everybody is in too much pain,’ Lily said, ‘Robyn obviously can’t understand that you’re trying to help her and your mum must be really scared. She works night shifts, doesn’t she? She’s probably terrified about what Robyn is doing the whole time she’s not around.’

  ‘That’s the other thing,’ Dan said, ‘all Robyn’s so-called friends are just using her because she has a free house most nights. I guarantee it. I don’t know why she can’t see what a fucking mess she’s making of everything.’

  ‘She probably will someday,’ Lily said, ‘but for now she’s got you, and she’s got your mum. Even if she’s pushing you away at the moment it doesn’t mean it’ll be that way forever. I’m sure one day she’ll look back and see that you’re the people who really stood by her.’

  ‘You think I should go back there?’ Dan asked.

  ‘No. Not if you don’t want to. And especially not when you’re feeling angry.’

  ‘That’s just it, I’m always angry when I’m there,’ Dan said, ‘being back just reminded me why I had to get out.’

  ‘Then don’t go back,’ Lily said, ‘if it’s making you feel like that you’re not going to be able to help. You need to do what’s right for you for a while, and if that’s staying here with us then you’re always more than welcome.’

  ‘I can’t stay with you guys indefinitely,’ Dan said, ‘I need to get my own life.’

  ‘I know. But everything is up in the air right now. There’s no rush to make any decisions, if you’re happy here then you can stay as long as you need.’

  …

  By the time we’d finished talking with Dan it was late, but none of us wanted to go to bed.

  ‘What do you want to do now?’ Lily asked, ‘we could play Affrayed?’

  ‘No,’ Dan said, ‘I’ve got a better idea.’

  ‘What?’ Lily asked.

  ‘How about we get really, really drunk?’

  Lily held up her hand and said, ‘I’m in.’

  I looked at them both in surprise. Hadn’t Dan just spent the whole evening dealing with the fallout from Robyn’s alcohol abuse and now he just wanted to get wasted?

  ‘Dan, do you really think that’s going to help?’ I asked.

  ‘Nope,’ he said, ‘but it’ll make me feel better. You in?’

  Lily was looking at me expectantly and although I couldn’t quite believe that they had suggested it, I had to admit a night of oblivion did have a certain appeal.

  ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘fine. Whatever.’

  Lily got up and went into the kitchen to look for something for us to drink, and after a few minutes of rummaging in the kitchen cupboards she emerged holding a bottle of vodka triumphantly aloft.

  But before she’d even stood up she suddenly stopped and put the bottle away again.

  ‘Lily?’ Dan said, ‘what is it?’

  ‘How about,’ she said, ‘we have all of the experience but none of the hangover?’

  Dan laughed, ‘sign me up,’ he said.

  ‘Lily, what do you mean?’ I asked. She looked a bit funny, like she wasn’t really seeing us, like her attention was on something inside her head.

  ‘He can give us what we want,’ she said.

  ‘He? You mean Interface?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily said, ‘he can make us feel like we’re drunk.’

  I walked over and looked at her closely.

  ‘How is he telling you this?’ I asked, ‘is he in your head right now?’

  Lily laughed. ‘Of course he is. He’s been in there most of today. It’s nice, actually. Like having a friend who’s always there.’

  I took hold of her arms and gave her a little shake. ‘Lily, Interface is not your friend. You mustn’t let him in.’

  She pushed my hands away from her. ‘Why not?’ she said, ‘he’s interesting. And he asks me things about my life, how I feel about things. He’s really v
ery friendly. He doesn’t wish us any harm.’

  I looked helplessly at Dan, but I could see I’d lost him. His eyes were fixed on Lily, on the thought of a night of forgetfulness, and despite myself I felt a little ripple of excitement at the thought of repeating that experience we’d had on the hilltop.

  ‘It’ll be so much fun,’ Lily said, ‘please, Nick. I don’t want to do it without you.’

  Chapter 32

  I didn’t go straight from nothing to really drunk in one swift transition. Interface reached into me gently, like a wonderful spreading warmth through my mind. Gradually I became aware that my feelings of alertness, worry and self-consciousness began to lessen and Lily took the lead again, dragging us both outside.

  ‘Let’s walk,’ she said, ‘come on.’

  But we hardly got out of our estate before we were stopped in our tracks by a voice calling out from the other side of the road.

  ‘Hey, aren’t you the guys who made that game?’

  I looked round to see three people, one girl and two boys, crossing the road to come over and talk to us. They looked about sixteen, though it was hard to tell by the streetlights. It was one of the boys who had spoken.

  ‘You are,’ said the girl, as she opened a big purple bag that was covered in an incredible array of different brightly coloured badges. ‘I play your game like, all the time.’ She fished her phone out of her handbag. ‘Please, can I get a picture with you guys?’

  Dan started laughing, and I was so surprised by what the girl had said that I did as well.

  ‘You want a picture... with us?’ Dan said, pointing at me and then himself.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, despite Interface being in me and making me feel drunk, I thought this was probably not a great idea. The last thing we needed was any more publicity or exposure, even if it was of the most trivial kind.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘we don’t really do...pictures.’ I took Lily’s hand and started walking. ‘We’ve got to go,’ I said.

  The second we were out of earshot of the group, we all burst out laughing.

  ‘Oh my God!’ Lily said.

  Dan was equally as amazed. ‘We’re like... fucking... celebrities!’ he said, ‘that was mental!’

  ‘So not everybody hates us,’ I said, ‘it looks like we’ve got fans.’

  Lily giggled. ‘Well, nobody could be as a big a fan of you two as I am,’ she said, then she turned and ran off down the street. We started to chase her and she screamed in excitement, sprinting down the deserted road out of the estate and every now and again looking back over her shoulder. We could easily have caught her if we’d been trying, but it was more fun to let her evade us- to pretend not to be able to get hold of her, or to let our hands just brush the fabric of her t-shirt without even trying to grab it.

  She ran straight down to where the road met another in a t-junction, stopped for a moment, then ran across and leapt over an old wooden fence into the open fields beyond, pausing only when some brambles caught on her skirt and she had to stop to disentangle herself. Realising we were almost upon her she screeched and giggled, and the second she was free she tore across the field with us in her wake.

  Inevitably, she started getting tired and tripped in the long grass just as we caught her and all three of us tumbled down to the ground together in a heap, laughing and exhausted. For a moment I was happy just to lie there getting my breath back and looking up at the stars, but soon Interface started to push our minds again, to take them beyond just being relaxed and beginning to merge them a little. I could barely even see Lily and Dan in the darkness, but as little bits of their emotions spilled over into my mind I felt closer to them than ever, so close that when I began to hear the sound of them kissing I was as elated by it as I had been on the hilltop.

  For a long time we lay together in the grass, taking it in turns to kiss Lily and drinking in the bliss of just being together, then all of a sudden Lily giggled again and said, ‘I am so drunk-horny.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Dan said.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, standing up and tugging at our hands, ‘I’ve got an idea!’

  …

  The whole walk home Lily carried on holding both our hands and practically pulling us along, not that we needed much encouragement. I could feel how excited Dan was, how excited she was, and I wondered what her idea could possibly be. Surely she didn’t mean for us all to have sex, though I realised with a kind of wonderful surprise that if she did, perhaps I would be up for it. I felt as though I could be up for anything.

  But this wasn’t what Lily intended, not initially at least, as the second we got inside she turned to Dan and said, ‘so, I was wondering, do you like drawing women?’

  ‘Sometimes,’ he said.

  She looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes and bit her lip mischievously. ‘Ever had a woman model nude for you?’

  ‘Why?’ he said, looking at her with interest, ‘you offering?’

  As we both watched her undress, my mind seemed to relax even further, and again, the boundaries of it began to soften. I could feel Lily, her bliss, her sense of freedom as she removed her clothes, and through it all, I could feel her arousal, little jagged spikes of excitement that made my own heart beat faster. Being naked in front of us, and the prospect of deliberately posing and displaying her body wasn’t just making her feel free, it was turning her on.

  From Dan, I could feel his anticipation over seeing Lily’s body, and somewhat unsurprisingly, I got the sense that this was something he’d wondered about before. But it wasn’t like he was watching her and wanting her- which, to be honest, was all I could think about- instead he was fascinated by the shapes of her, the colours of her, the way she moved. And I realised, he was in awe of her. He couldn’t even begin to think about sex with her right now, to him that seemed impossible, unthinkable. He found just the physical reality of her body so captivating that it practically overshadowed lust.

  Lily lifted her arms, turning slightly so we’d see the back of her body, the way her spine curved, and the lovely fullness of her hips. Her emotions changed a little now. She knew that although Dan and I were both fully dressed and she was the one who was naked, she had all the power because of it, and she felt powerful- she felt confident, she felt beautiful.

  She wandered over to my desk, and bent forward over it, her palms flat against the surface, and looked back over her shoulder at Dan.

  ‘How do you want me?’ she asked. ‘Like this?’

  He didn’t reply and she changed position, sitting on the edge of the desk with her legs crossed cheekily and her hair tumbling over her shoulders. ‘Like this?’ she asked.

  Then she turned around so she was side on to us, her legs dangling over the end of the desk, one hand behind her to prop herself up, and she threw her head back so that her spine curved wonderfully, her hair pooled on the desk underneath her head, and her breasts were thrust prominently forwards, beautifully full and sweet.

  ‘That,’ Dan said, his voice almost a croak. ‘Like that.’

  I saw Lily’s lips twitch as she tried not to smile. Instead, she closed her eyes and parted her lips, as if she was feeling the most incredible pleasure.

  Dan grabbed a sketchpad from the floor by the sofa, flipped over to a new page, and began drawing her very fast, in a series of bold strokes. He was completely absorbed in the moment, transferring her likeness onto the page almost without looking down at the paper, his eyes never straying far from her body.

  ‘God, you’re so beautiful,’ he said, the words spoken almost without volition.

  A wave of movement passed through Lily’s body, a sort of undulation through her hips, her stomach, her shoulders.

  ‘Oh, Dan,’ she said, ‘you’re making me want to touch myself.’

  Hearing this, Dan immediately talked some more about her body- nothing all that eloquent, mainly just him repeating that she was beautiful, but as he spoke, Lily started stroking her breasts with her free hand, sq
ueezing them and caressing them. She played with her nipples until they grew hard, and then she sat up straight so she could use both her hands to cup her breasts in her palms, and I could feel her delight at the shape of her own body.

  Suddenly, she lay down flat along the desk, pushing aside everything that was in her way. She gathered up her hair in her hand and positioned it so it streamed down over the side of the desk, and I felt how excited Dan was by this, and I wondered very briefly in the tiny part of my mind that could still have thoughts, whether he had a thing for long hair.

  Lily’s hands travelled down her body, over her stomach, the inside of her thighs, but then she went back to her breasts- teasing herself by pinching her nipples between her fingers, until her throat and her chest flushed a deep rose pink.

  Dan had been too overwhelmed to even draw her, but now he turned over to a blank page, and rested the pencil against it. It seemed Lily couldn’t bear to tease herself any longer, and she moaned and arched her back as she finally pressed her fingers between her legs.

  ‘Oh God,’ she murmured, ‘I want to fuck myself.’

  I don’t know how Dan actually managed to draw anything. Certainly, I was completely captivated just by watching her. I’d seen Lily masturbate before, although only rarely. I think having me there generally put her off, because it started to seem to her like she was putting on a performance for me, rather than playing with herself for her own pleasure. But even the times I had seen her do it, it had been nothing like this. This was so unreserved, so indulgent and sensual. It was the way I’d want her to do it, I guess, if it was up to me, but with her mind in its normal, un-relaxed state she always had too much of a mental block.

  What was most fascinating was how much she teased herself. She changed her position, with her feet flat against the desk and her legs bent up, so I couldn’t actually get a clear view anymore, but I’d see her hand disappear between her legs for a while, then she’d caress her breasts again, or run her moist fingers over her cheeks and her lips. The first time Dan watched her slip her fingers into her mouth to taste herself, he made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan, but still he carried on recording the whole thing, producing not one, but what looked like a whole series of rushed images of the scene.